Holding Out for a Hero
by Trixi Summers
Summary: Rory and Logan kiss for the first time, and while she tries to forget it, she receives a series of unexpected gifts.
1. Prologue: Exhale

**Holding Out for a Hero**

**Prologue: Exhale**

He has that mischievous gleam in his eyes again. The one that had me jumping off a platform nearly six stories high with just an umbrella and a bungee cord. The one that got me drunk, watching Finn reenact the _Passion of the Christ_.

I fold my arms, waiting for the other shoe to drop as he leans nonchalantly against my desk, smirking extensively. His words keep flowing into my ears, and yet I hear nothing that would get me into trouble.

"Logan, make your point now, or I will start ignoring you," I cut in, my voice hard and my eyes flashing dangerously.

He seems to like my reaction. His smirk gets larger and I can see that gleam grow stronger. When he speaks, he yet again evades. "Why, I'm hurt, Ace, that you don't appreciate my company."

"Get to the point," I once again cut in before he can continue.

Time seems to slow all of a sudden as he smiles and leans in to me. Time stops for a millisecond as his lips touch mine, gently, caressing, soft and warm.

Then he pulls away and time continues as normal with me sitting there dumbfounded and with him smirking again. He leans in again and says, his words breathy against my ear, "See you later, Rory."

He disappears and I am left to exhale.


	2. Snow

**Snow**

Snow was coming down outside my window, big fluffy flakes that coat everything it touches. I am thankfully inside in my warm room, watching the flakes fall as the night grows dark.

Outside my room, Paris is blasting the television, watching CNN Headline News and periodically yelling at the TV in anger. I chose to do my studying here and am happily reaping the benefits of no distractions from her.

I vaguely heard a knock on the common room door. Paris seemed to stop in mid-tirade and opened the door. Two seconds later, she was at my door, her knock urgent.

I opened the door and she threw a package into my hands, saying, "Someone left it on the doorstep."

She scurried back to her TV, leaving me to look down at the package. It was small and wrapped in brown paper with my name scrawled in the top. Gingerly, I opened the wrapping and a black velour jewellery box fell out.

Confused, I opened the box, and on the top was a small note. Scrawled on it were the words, "Wear it tomorrow."

I took the note off and found an intricately-cut diamond necklace underneath. Silver threads formed a web around the pendant of a diamond-encrusted hawk in flight, and the main chain was a string of diamonds.

Whoever had sent it had to be rich to be able to afford something as this and expend it so easily. And while I doubted Colin or Finn would buy me something so extravagant and my grandparents would sooner leave a package of diamonds on the porch than kill themselves, I dismissed the idea that it was from Logan.

However, my mind went back to the kiss he had given me that day in the newsroom. Was that kiss for real, or was it just to get on my nerves?


	3. Husky

**Husky**

The newsroom was loud when I breezed in, caffeine-fix in hand and layered in clothes to ward off the cold. I vaguely noticed Logan sitting at his desk, but in an attempt to not be distracted, I didn't bother sending a greeting his way in case he thought it was an invitation to come annoy me.

I sat down at my desk and turned on my computer, shivering in the cold. Another sip before I noticed Logan standing above me.

"Jesus," I gasped, nearly jumping a foot in the air. "Make a noise before you sneak up on someone."

"I didn't know you were so easily scared," Logan commented, grinning, perhaps a little too evilly for my taste. "Perhaps next time, I'll use a blow-horn."

"Now, what do you want, Logan?" I asked, placing my coffee on the desk so that I wouldn't accidentally throw it at him. "Speak now or I might have to use torture."

His eyebrows shot up and he looked intrigued. "Really?"

I sighed, beginning to take off my parka as it was starting to get warm. While unwrapping my scarf, I took care not to hurt the necklace and watched Logan's expression intently.

A flicker of a smile crossed his features before being instantly hidden by a mask. I pounced, saying victoriously, "Aha! I knew it was you who sent me the necklace."

"Please," Logan drawled incredulously, and he looked like he meant it. "As if I would buy a girl something that showy."

"Well, it's not like Colin or Finn would go out of their way to buy me something this expensive," I said defensively. I kept one eye on him and started typing on the keyboard.

"It looks nice on you," Logan commented, his voice low and a little husky.

"Thank you."

He started to turn away but I stopped him and asked, "You sure you didn't send this?"

"Unless I was sleepwalking at the time, no," he replied easily. He gave me a lazy smile and said over his shoulder, "If I find out who sent it, I'll let you know, Ace."

I watched him leave, his walk arrogant, as if he wanted the whole world to know he was rich and took advantage of it. I decided then that I should ask Colin or Finn. They were his roommates; thus, they would know.


	4. Roses

**Roses**

_Operation Find-out-who-bought-me-this-necklace now in motion_, I thought, looking down the hallway as a certain Australian man sauntered out of a classroom, his arm casually draped over a blushing girl's shoulders. I took a deep breath and approached quickly, my heels clacking on the polished wood floor. Finn heard the noise and looked my way, his look turning thoughtful.

"You've met me before, Finn," I said, for what was probably the thirtieth time since I had actually met him. "I actually wanted to ask you something."

"Well, I don't know you," Finn said, his eyes sweeping up and down my form to the distaste of the girl next to him. "But I guess you can ask me a question. Ask anything ya like."

I nodded, and held up the diamond necklace. Finn whistled. "Do you recognize this? And if so, do you know who sent it?"

I saw a look of indecision in Finn's eyes and knew I was closing in on an answer. Finn looked around to make sure no one was watching us before letting go of the girl and stepping forward to whisper in my ear, "You should ask Logan that, he'd know."

Then, he stepped back and let the girl pull him away down the hallway. While I hadn't exactly gotten a straight answer from him, his answer seemed to be pointing to Logan.

Upon entering my dorm, I jumped at Paris' sudden yell at the TV and said, "Paris, maybe you should get out of the dorm. You've gotten way too attached to CNN."

"I'm ignoring you," Paris said without looking away from the TV.

"Terrence is probably right," I continued.

"Still ignoring you!"

I moved on to my bedroom, opening the door wide and throwing my parka and accessories on my desk chair before looking at myself in the mirror. The diamond necklace sparkled in the light and went perfect with my wide-necked top, showing all the different threads and diamonds, and the hawk in between.

It took me two seconds to realize that my room was not the way I had left it. I turned from the mirror and surveyed the room and, with a fair bit of surprise, I found multitudes of rose petals covering my bed from the pillows to the foot.

"Oh my…" I whispered.

At the foot of the bed was a sheet of white paper where 'Merry Christmas' had been printed in a large font and festive colours. I picked up the sheet and stared at it, as if it would give me the clues to who had done this. Then, I looked at the window to see if the person had used it to sneak in and found that the window was unlocked.

"Paris, why are there rose petals on my bed?" I yelled in frustration.

Paris came jogging in and looked in surprise at the petals. "Why the hell would you put rose petals on your bed?" she asked, either not getting it or trying to be difficult.

"Paris!" I exclaimed. "I wouldn't put petals on my _own_ bed! What I'm trying to figure out is who did it and how did they get into my room and how did you not notice it?!"

"They must have used the window," Paris mused, checking it. "You know you should keep it locked just in case some nutso tried to come in here and do this again."

"Paris, it was locked," I told her impatiently.

"Well, I didn't let them in," she went on, defensively. "And your door was shut, so I wouldn't have been able to hear it." She suddenly saw the necklace. "Where did you get the rocks?"

"I don't know."

Paris looked sceptical. "How could you not know? You're the one wearing them."

"They came from that package that arrived yesterday."

"Oh." She seemed to be thinking of something. "Perhaps it's that guy I saw you kissing in the newsroom the other day."

And just like that, she left, leaving me to steam in my frustration. I soon sighed and sat down heavily on the bed, feeling the softness of the petals on my fingertips as I lightly brushed them. I lay back, letting my hair spill out over the petals, and began to play with them with my hands.

A necklace on the doorstep—much like the time Logan had left me that gorilla mask, champagne, and my camera—and rose petals on my bed. Was Logan Huntzberger trying to woo me or was he just messing with me? Half of me wanted to interrogate the hell out of him, while the other half just wanted to see what was next. I opted for the latter and closed my eyes to fall asleep.


	5. Clamour

**Clamour**

An odd feeling woke me up, the feeling that someone was standing just above me. Yet, when I opened my eyes, there was no one, except for the slightly open window putting a chill in the room.

Big fluffy flakes swirled crazily outside my window, and sleepily I closed the window tight and locked it, hoping to prevent anyone else from entering. It was only then that I realized that it was 3 in the morning. But now that I was up, I didn't feel like going back to sleep. I felt like taking a walk.

I pulled on my parka and hat and scarf and mittens and left the dormitory, feeling oddly exuberant about getting out of there. I walked confidently out into the snow, not caring that the flakes practically kept visibility to a minimum and that I could slip at any moment in my heeled boots. I felt free, freer than I had been feeling in the past few months. Perhaps, in the past few years.

I took a deep breath, smelling the intoxicating richness of crisp air filled with snow falling from clouds covering the sky. I now know why my mother loved the first snowfall of the year; it was positively freeing.

Giggling to myself, I twirled in the snow, my arms stretched and my scarf swirling about me. I felt like a little girl again, as if I were in a fairy costume twirling in a circle of trees as a beautiful sun was shining down on me. I didn't care if anyone saw me, although I doubted that anyone was awake to see me, and I kept at it, twirling and twirling until my shoes suddenly lost their footing and I fell into the snow.

There, I closed my eyes, relishing the joy of it, until a pair of strong hands began to pull me up, whereupon I forced my eyes open only to look on the smiling face of Logan Huntzberger.

"You're gonna catch a cold," he said, keeping me steady on my feet by holding my arms.

I had no idea what to say, so I opted for "What are doing out here?" keeping my voice only curious.

The gleam came back into his eyes and he smiled again. He then asked, "Shouldn't you be sleeping? I heard that reporters went to bed at twelve."

I rolled my eyes in response. "You know, you have a very annoying tendency to answer a question with a question."

"I do know," Logan replied smoothly. "You've reminded me of it five times."

"You're exaggerating," I shot back.

"Yeah, well, gotta fight fire with fire," he said.

I cocked my head, and said in my coyest voice ever, "You think I'm throwing fire at you?"

The look of surprise in his eyes answered my question and before he had a chance to make a covering remark, I pulled free from his grasp and turned back to the snow. It was coming down thinner now, and while that put a bit of a damper on my fun, it allowed me to see Logan more clearly.

"Do you always keep the men on their toes, Ace?" he asked, watching me as I walked.

"Oh, no," I played back, my voice light and evasive. "Only the ones I'm trying to get information out of."

He seemed to like that. His smile grew larger and he began to follow me as I walked around. So far he was playing into my hands.

I stopped to look up at the stars and he said wonderingly, "I have to hand it to you, Ace; you seem to be playing with a full deck of cards. What info would you like me to share with you?"

"Well, Logan Huntzberger, were you the one to leave a package at my dormitory door encasing a necklace probably worth thousands and thousands of dollars? And your answer cannot include the word 'salt' or another question."

His body suddenly pressed up against mine from behind and I could feel his breath on the side of my face. I could feel myself start to warm to the warmth of his body, and by the way I was reacting, I knew he had to be smirking by now.

A clock somewhere struck 4, its deep resonant ring echoing from what could have been miles away. The clamour seemed to wash over us, and by the time it was finished, I knew I wasn't going to get an answer.

"Well, Lorelai Gilmore, you're just going to have to wait for that answer." His lips lightly kissed my cheek, bringing an instant blush to my face, and he left me, sauntering away with the last word.

I would have cursed out loud, but there was something in his walk that said I would be expecting more.

I found out as soon as I arrived back at my dorm room. Paris was still sleeping soundly from her room, but upon entering my own bedroom, I found a long-stemmed rose sitting primly on top of my pillow with more rose petals added to the bed.


	6. Laugh

**Laugh**

I sighed deeply as Paris and Doyle continued yelling and screaming at each other. They had somehow gotten into the discussion of world-wide ethics and now everyone in the newsroom was trying to run for their lives from the pair and their tirade or else was standing around, staring at the two, completely flabbergasted.

Logan arrived in the middle of this little heated argument, watching them with a smile of appreciation on his face. He immediately made his way to my desk, keeping his eyes on the two, before saying, "Now, this is intriguing. I think this is the most fun the newsroom has seen since the year began." He tore his eyes off the pair and looked at me, asking, "Is she always this infuriating?"

I nodded nonchalantly. "Same old Paris," I commented before going back to my article.

All of a sudden, a chair was rolling up to my side of the desk and Logan was sitting on it, still watching the argument with a certain amount of glee. I looked at him before rolling my eyes. "Why do you still even come here?" I asked. "I mean, you don't technically have a job so you technically don't have to come."

"Well, then, how else am I going to see my favourite intrepid reporter?" he quipped, not taking his eyes off the argument which had veered onto other things.

I took the compliment with a nod before glancing up at the pair. Paris had just called Doyle a lunatic and Doyle was turning thirty different shades of red. I happened to sneeze right in that moment of silence and all looked toward me.

"Sorry," I said, my nose stuffed. "Keep going." And they did.

"Got a cold?" Logan asked, looking at me closely with laughter in his eyes.

"Yes," I said, trying to quickly blow my nose out before the scene became gross. "Apparently going outside at 3 in the morning wasn't such a good idea after all. You can insert 'I told you so'."

"Done." He pulled a small package of tissues out of his pocket and handed it to me.

"Oh, thank you!" Thankfully, he looked back towards the fight, leaving me to blow my nose without embarrassing myself. Not that I really cared what he thought of me.

As soon as I was done, he pulled out a pack of lozenges and I gratefully took them. Then, once I had one in my mouth, he whispered, "Watch."

I looked up at Paris and Doyle who looked as if they were ready to throw things at each other. Instead, they suddenly sprang together, throwing all their fury into a kiss. I resisted the urge to roll my eyes and respectfully averted them while the rest of the newsroom went, "Ooh…" Some began to cheer and they began to go back to work, large dorky smiles on their faces.

Logan laughed beneath his breath, his face crinkled up into a goofy smile. And all _I_ could do was sneeze again, a tiny, mouse-like sneeze that sent Logan into shaking with laughter. Then I had to sit there, watching him laugh.

"Logan," I said, in a whiny voice that I hoped would get his attention.

He stopped laughing, but the laughter was still in his eyes and his mouth was still in a smile.

And then I had to go and sneeze again and it was all he could do to keep from falling off his chair in laughter. He finally gathered himself and tossed a goodbye to me before leaving the newsroom.


	7. Single

**Single**

I spent the next few days avoiding Paris and not seeing or hearing anything from Logan. From what had passed in the newsroom, I wasn't too sure of what to say to either of them. Actually, it was more that I wasn't too sure of what to say to Paris. Logan I just wanted to avoid because, well, he's Logan.

Suffice it to say that my strategy did not work at all. Paris was now spending all of her days avoiding the newsroom, something I could handle in different circumstances, but she had stationed herself on the couch of our dormitory, watching CNN, and I had a feeling that she was thinking about Asher.

Logan, however, tracked me down, almost as if he had me bugged or something, and caught me just as I was getting my first dose of caffeine for the day.

"I knew I'd find you here," he said victoriously, sauntering up to me with that jaunt to his walk. "I didn't really peg you for a caffeine addict but then I've been wrong about you before."

"Oh? About what, may I ask?" I looked at him expectantly, but all he did was give me a weird look that suggested I was crazy and slyly avoided the question.

"How's your cold doing these days?" he asked instead, purchasing for himself a coffee from the vendor.

"About as good as Yasser Arafat used to be," I quipped.

"Aw," he said, slinging an arm around my shoulder as I started the walk towards the newsroom, "poor you. So, what's the situation with Paris and Doyle? Tell all, please."

"I actually don't know," I said as we fell easily into step. "Tell you what, when we get to the newsroom, you can ask Doyle that question."

"Naw," he said. "I think I'd like to keep my body intact, thank you very much. As much as I'd love to stir up the drama, I have to go anyways. Got a lunch date."

I have no idea why but this surprised me. Throughout this whole time I had assumed Logan was single and I hadn't considered the fact that he might have had a girlfriend in the background… somewhere. Then I realized that I shouldn't care whether Logan Huntzberger had a girl already.

I suddenly realized that for the past few seconds, he had been watching me… and smirking. I blushed and looked away, actually finding comfort in the fact that we were just coming on to the newsroom.

"Oh, look, the newsroom!" I exclaimed in a falsetto that I hoped would throw him off-track. In a falsely sweet voice and a falsely sweet smile, I asked, looking him right in the eyes, "Don't you have a lunch date right now?"

"Why, yes, Ace, I do have a lunch date," he replied smoothly. And that mischievous gleam was back in his eyes. "Thank you for reminding me."

Once again with the last word, he sauntered off, hands in his pockets and a whistle coming from his lips. I sighed in frustration at having let my emotions show and then I cursed myself for caring that he had a girlfriend in the first place.


	8. Prank

**Prank**

I yawned, and rolled over, upsetting the rose petals that I hadn't bothered to clear off my bed. A dim light shone through the window, grey and bleak.

Quickly, I got out of bed, got dressed and put on the hawk necklace before starting off for the newsroom. I was barely three feet from it when Colin suddenly got in my way, throwing me a greeting.

"Hey, Gilmore, you look fantastic today."

"Hi, Colin. I'd really love to stay and exchange pleasantries, but some of us actually have to work." I tried to dodge him for the door to the newsroom, but he grabbed my arm and turned me around.

"So, I was wondering what your feelings for Logan are," he said conversationally, an arm hooked around my shoulders, leading me away.

"Look, Colin, if this is another prank, feel free to stop now," I said, trying to wiggle out of his grasp, but his arm was surprisingly strong.

"No, this is no prank," he continued. "Finn and I were just wondering how you feel about our mutual friend, Logan."

"Well…" I hesitated, wondering if I should answer him or try to dodge him again. But before I knew it, Colin was moving his arm off my shoulders and suddenly Finn was beside us, _his_ arm draped around my shoulders now and jumping into the conversation calmly, as if he had been there the whole time.

"Yes, Miss Gilmore," he began, the look in his eyes making me nervous. "We would be much obliged if you divulge your feelings on the subject of a certain blonde-haired man, and tell us if he's given you an answer about how you procured that beautiful piece of jewellery hanging around that beautiful neck of yours."

I looked down at my necklace before asking, "So, he's the one who sent me this, was he?"

"Of course," Colin said, almost scoffing at my ignorance.

"A beautiful necklace for a beautiful lady," Finn added.

I suddenly felt relieved, but I asked, "But what about that girl he was dating? If he was sending me presents, he wouldn't be dating other girls."

"Oh?" Colin only replied.

"Who was this girl?" Finn asked. "I might look her up some time."

"He put you up to this, didn't he?"

"Who did?" Finn asked innocently.

"We have no idea what you're talking about, Gilmore," Colin replied easily.

"Logan; he got you to stall me and ask me about my feelings for him," I explained.

"We still have no idea what you are talking about," Colin restated.

"But we will bring you over to another beautiful lady," Finn said, steering me out to the courtyard where Stephanie was waiting, leaning against the stone wall. Finn and Colin suddenly disappeared, leaving me to walk over to Stephanie nervously, who only nodded in greeting.

"These complete the set," she said, getting straight to the point. She held out a pair of long earrings with a hawk at the end of each chain. She laid them in my hands before pulling herself off the wall, saying authoritatively, "You should go back to your dorm now before you get to your classes. I have a feeling that you'll find something waiting there for you."

She turned and sauntered away with the barest hint of a smile. I sighed and made my way back to my dorm, finding Paris sitting on the couch, calmly reading a newspaper.

"Did anything happen while I was gone?" I asked quickly. "Did anyone come by?"

"How should I know?" she said moodily. "I was at Doyle's."

"So do not want to know why," I mumbled. I threw down my bag and went to my room, slowly opening the door before gasping at what was carefully laid out on my bedspread.

Paris came up behind me and said, "Wow. Who'd you have to knock off for that dress?"

"I have to go," I said, nearly tearing out of the dorm before Paris had a chance to grill me. I went everywhere I could think of to look for him, but I could see no Logan.

I ended up in front of his dorm, my knock hurried and as loud as I could possibly get it. I knocked twice, but there was no answer.

Dejectedly, I walked back to my dorm to look at the white gown laid carefully out on my bed on a fresh pile of rose petals. It was covered in gold trimmings and gold netting over top. It looked simple enough, but I figured it to be expensive.

I tried it on, the material falling like water around my legs. After twirling in front of the mirror with the earrings on also, I noticed a piece of paper was on the bed.

"Wear the dress to the Christmas party," the note said.

And I knew I would do just that.


	9. Audrey

**Audrey**

I did not hear or see anything of Logan for the rest of the week. By the time Friday had come around, the Christmas holidays were starting and I was due to arrive in Stars Hollow.

I drove my car into the driveway and parked it behind Lorelai's Jeep. Then, I popped the trunk and pulled out the huge garbage bags of dirty laundry and presents before lugging them into the house and dropping them upon the first sign of floor.

"Mom! I'm home!" I yelled.

What sounded like thunder was actually my mother running down the stairs. I had barely taken a few steps when she flung herself at me, bringing us both to the floor.

"Daughter!"

"Mother!"

"My nestling has finally come home!" she exclaimed. We awkwardly got off the floor and she added, a little disappointed, "And she brought garbage bags."

"Oh, that's just laundry," I told her, picking up the bags again and lugging them into my room, Lorelai following me.

"You brought laundry home to your mother?" she asked as I deposited the bags at the bottom of my closet. "What ever happened to: 'Hi, Mom, I brought you a box of chocolates'?"

"Sorry," I said, going back to the front door. "They were out of chocolates at every store I went to on the highway."

I bounded outside to my car and carefully took the white dress I was sure Logan had laid out in my room. Lorelai watched me dubiously from the porch as I walked back to the house with it carefully laid out in my arms.

"What is that?" Lorelai asked, her tone just a little bit snobbish.

"It's a party dress for Grandma's Christmas party," I said nonchalantly as I happily stepped out of my wet shoes and brought the dress into my room.

"That dress is going to make you look like Audrey Hepburn," she said. "Are my parents trying to sell you off again?"

"Not that I know of," I replied, not looking at her as I hung the dress up on the back of my door.

"Then, why did you buy such an expensive dress for my parents' Christmas party?" she asked, sitting on the bed and looking at me, her eyes large and incredulous. "You know, they wouldn't mind if you just went in a paper bag."

I rolled my eyes. Then, I thought about what I should tell her, but I couldn't lie to my own mother. So I said, "I didn't buy it."

Now, she looked confused, and intrigued at the same time. "Then, where did you get it? That dress alone must be worth thousands of dollars. It looks like the kind of things those models wear, you know, them all haughty and snobby, walking on the catwalk. And now that I think about it, so does that necklace… and those earrings." She scrunched her face into a frown. "You didn't pull a Winona Ryder and try to rob Saks, did you?"

"No, I did not try to rob Saks," I said. "And I have my theories."

"I'm not going to say anything about your not knowing where that came from," Lorelai said. "But what are these theories you have?"

"One of them involves Logan Huntzberger and his goofy friends," I finally replied, after weighing the pros and cons of telling her.

"Huntzberger? Huntzberger, Huntzberger…" she repeated, scrunching her face up even further. She appeared not to remember who he was, until suddenly comprehension dawned on her face. "Oh! Limo boy! _He_ bought you the dress, the necklace, and the earrings?"

"Well, I know he bought me the necklace and the earrings," I corrected her. "But I have yet to have it confirmed that he bought me the dress, although I have an inkling."

Lorelai became serious before asking, "How do you feel about this?"

That stopped me. I had no idea how I really felt about a strange boy buying me expensive gifts without much of a cause. I looked at my mother and shrugged. "I don't know."

Lorelai frowned at me. "You don't know?"

"I haven't really thought about it," I said truthfully.

"Rory, when a boy buys you gifts you automatically have to assume that he likes you," my mother said, patronizing in her loving sort of way. "How do you feel about him? How does he make you feel?"

"Annoyed," I answered automatically.

"Other than the obvious annoyance," my mother said, rolling her eyes at me. "When you think Logan Huntzberger, what do you see?"

I looked up at the dress on the back of the door. My mother followed my gaze. The dress hung limply on the back, ready to be worn.


	10. Exhilarated

A/N: This will be the last chapter for HOFH. Sorry guys! I just can't write Logan/Rory anymore because of how much their relationship in the show is different from the way I pictured it would be. Also, the way thechapter is written mightbe different from the previous ones. I've been experimenting with different ways of writing and it's sort of carried over into this chapter. Thanks so much to all of your support! Enjoy!

**Exhilarated**

The dining hall was completely decorated in white. White tablecloths, white candlesticks, white chairs, white-clothed waiters, white draperies. I stepped cautiously into the hall, looking around. Still no sign of Logan.

I wasn't sure if that was a good thing or a bad thing. After what his friends had told me and the dress that had appeared on my bed, I wasn't so sure about whether I liked him or not. Maybe I did. Maybe I didn't. Tonight might just tell me which one it was.

Emily glided towards me, just like I knew she eventually would. It was her party. Her age-lined face was already beaming with a smile, her eyes taking in the dress. It was the one mysteriously laid on my bed. She grabbed my hands, holding them up to look at the dress closer. The women following behind her did the same. Look at the dress, I mean.

"Rory, well, just look at you," Emily cooed. "You look positively elegant in that dress."

"Like the Snow Queen," a woman said behind her. "You could have based this event with her as the model, Emily."

"Thank you," I said politely.

"Where did you get that dress?" Emily asked, genuinely interested. She suddenly appeared shocked, as if she wouldn't have thought of it. "Your mother didn't buy it for you, did she?"

Oh, how to explain to Emily that I didn't know where it had come from. I smiled, forcing my eyes to crinkle into a smile as well. Then, I said, "No, Mom didn't buy it. It was a… gift from somebody."

"Really? Who bought it for you?" Emily asked, frowning. She was probably thinking it was stolen from someone. God, I hope not.

I faked a look over her shoulder and said in my most pleasant voice, "Well, would you look at that? I think I see Mom over there and she's waving me over."

I politely brushed past them and wandered away. Truth was I didn't know where my mother was. Some would say she was over by the apple tarts, but I had a feeling she was speaking to Luke somewhere. I wandered onto the dance floor, weaving in and out of couples dancing to the jazz renditions of Christmas songs. My grandparents had really outdone themselves this year. And they weren't even speaking with each other.

The song changed to _Fools Rush In_. I clutched my drink and leaned against a table with the appetizers, looking around at all the dancing people, drowning in the music and the laughter and the chatter. A hand tapped my shoulder and I jumped, nearly spilling my drink.

"Sorry, I forgot you were easily scared. I would have brought the blow-horn, but it didn't fit in my car."

I shook my head and turned, saying, "Logan, you are completely insane."

He smiled. Decked out in a black and white suit, he looked good. "Insane is good," he said. He held out his hand to me. "May I have this dance?"

"For this depressing song?" I teased. "I don't think so."

He laughed and pulled me out onto the dance floor. I handed my drink to the waiter that went by us and let Logan pull me out before he put a hand on my waist, the other hand still clasping mine, and pulled me into a simple waltz.

"You look really beautiful tonight," he said in my ear, his breath making shivers go up and down my spine.

"Thank you," I said.

"I especially like those earrings," he said. "They match your necklace perfectly. Where'd you find them?"

Either he was a good actor, or he really didn't know where the earrings were from. So I said, in my coyest voice ever, "You know where I found them."

When he didn't respond, I thought for a second that he really wasn't the gift-leaver person. Perhaps Colin, Finn, and Stephanie were just pulling my leg when they said that Logan had been the one to leave me the necklace that was around my neck. I tensed, waiting for a confused response to confirm my suspicions of being falsely informed.

Then he pulled back and smiled, but now his eyes were less mischievous—more serious. "Yes, I _do_ know where you found them." I nearly breathed a sigh of relief. "I know where you got the necklace, and the dress, and the rose petals." He pulled back even farther and bowed, keeping his eyes on mine. "You have your culprit, Miss Gilmore."

"I guess I do." I smiled and he straightened.

"Another dance?" he asked in a charming voice that would have charmed nuns.

"Sure, why not?" He pulled me back to him again, and now that I knew for sure that it was him, I relaxed back into his arms, feeling like I had that night he caught me twirling in the snow. Exhilarated. I guess I got my answer.


End file.
